Ninos en la playa, a dexterous beach scene by the celebrated Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923) is to star at Sotheby's London on May 23. The painting, which has never previously appeared at auction, has been given a substantial £1.8m-2.5m ($2.7m-3.7m) estimate.

Works by Sorolla are currently garnering a great deal of interest among collectors, after the artist's Pescadores valencianos - another beach scene - achieved £3.7m ($5.5m) at Sotheby's in November 2012 - a new auction record for any work by the artist.

The current auction record held by a Sorolla canvas stands at $5.5m. Can Ninos en la playa exceed this figure on May 23?

Ninos en la playa was painted in 1916, and has resided with the artist's family since the late 1950s.

Blanca Pons Sorolla, great granddaughter of the artist, comments: "Ninos en la playa is seen, understood and recorded in paint as a whole: there are no partial sketches that undermine the scene in its entirety.

"It is extraordinary that Sorolla can capture on canvas something as difficult as the spontaneity of the moment which unfolds before him and imbue it with the emotional charge he feels."

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